I believe you.
A pianist in one of my lounge band gigs in the late '70s told me about "the big atomic cannon that was our regular make-out spot" in Kansas. I presume she was referring to this one, but for your sake, I'm not divulging her identity!
A decade earlier, in Alameda CA, we had a Shay locomotive that pretty much served the same purpose; discretion keeps me from repeating some of the more popular misspellings and transliterations applied to it vis-a-vis "One-Horse Shay."
I built the Atomic Cannon but not the V-8; couldn't afford the thing. They put out an excellent line of ships too, in a common scale I forget. Good company.
'Duster